Rocketshipping
by PaperRebellion
Summary: Primarily focused on Rocketshipping. After a series of events brings them together a bit more, Jessie and James find themselves having fallen in love. Canceled as of 4/28/2019, no hope of continuation.
1. Chapter 1: The Cabin

_Hey guys! This will be quite a long fic, as it is actually a more detailed version (Slightly rewritten) of a roleplay with Deviantart's Kwaziicat, who you lovely will know as K9ofthetwostrings. It is with Emma's permission I post this under my account. It may get a little sappy or dramatic at some points but… we're teenage girls. What did you expect when you clicked on this if not Rocketshipping and drama? Anyway, it is for the most part, planned in advance outside of the universe so if you need an explanation or have questions, feel free to PM either of us! I hope you enjoy! PS there are some differences in the way Emma and I do Meowth's accent and we both took him over at some point so I apologize in advance! (The cringey accent is me haha…)_

 _Also, if my old RP buddy from Quotev is reading this, yes- I did reuse Juliet as Juliette and the basic beginning is the same because I only know how to write two beginnings...! Sorry not sorry._

Chapter 1: The Cabin

The rain had finally stopped coming down, which meant Jessie had _finally_ stopped complaining about her hair being mussed during their latest attempt to capture the Pikachu. Pikachu had used the infernal rain against them, shocking them with each wet droplet. And so now the three antivillains had resumed their journey back to Team Rocket Headquarters.  
"Okay," Jessie started, turning around to face the other two, "I move that we blame Meowth. Seconded?" She raised her hand.

"Uh, no fair!" The cream-colored catlike Pokemon hissed, "Jimmy was da one to design the thing-a-ma-bob that blew up in our faces after dat rotten Pikachu used Thunderbolt on us, so I blame him!"  
"What?! But you were the one who told me the design I had been working on would be foolproof!" the lavender-haired agent argued.

"Okay, there's only one fair way to decide who gets the blame," Jessie started, then said suddenly, "One-two-three-notit!"

"Notit!" Meowth said, raising one of his three-fingered paws into the air with a smug smile running across his face, "Well... whaddaya know... It was James' fault da whole time!"  
"What? Come on! I didn't know we were playing this game!" James yelled in frustration.

"Don't complain, you snooze you lose!" Jessie chided him. "And if your plan hadn't literally blown up in our faces, we _wouldn't_ be playing this game!" She set her hands firmly on her hips and Meowth nodded smugly in agreement, glad anyone else but him was getting the brunt of the blame.

"B-But Jessie! T-this isn't fair!" James continued to shout, "Like I said before, you told me that the blueprints I were working on were flawless and that it couldn't possibly fail, so I followed your advice and made the robot! Heck, I don't even think you were paying attention to the blueprints at all! I added a "self-destruct" button and a disco ball to the design for crying out loud, and you _STILL_ told me it was a good idea!"

Meowth rolled his eyes, "Oy vey, can we eat soon? I'm sick a hearing both of ya arguin."  
Jessie glanced at the cat and crossed her arms begrudgingly, "Fine, we'll all take the blame but you are still getting most of it."  
Just then the rain started again, pouring in torrents.  
"As if this day couldn't get worse..." Meowth grumbled.

"Seems more fair than inflicting it all on me..." James grumbled under his breath as he crossed his arms over his chest. Seconds later, he glanced over at his partner and gasped in horror as he noticed her clothes. He tore his eyes away and spoke quickly, "Um... Jessie... I hate to alarm you but..."

"What?" Jessie snapped, glancing at her partner. Upon seeing a glimpse of his pants, she too tore away her eyes and realization dawned on her as she looked away hurriedly. In spite of herself, fully knowing what she would see, she looked down and let out a shriek. "Are you kidding me!?"

Meowth just looked back and forth at his human counterparts and started laughing hysterically.  
"This isn't funny!" Jessie barked at him as the rain continued to pour, attempting to cover herself.

How unfortunate it is to wear white clothes in pouring rain.

"Uhhhh...we have to find some sort of shelter," Jessie said uneasily, "I refuse to be out here like..this!" She said.  
Meowth laughed, "James are dose lil moltreses on ya boxers?"  
Jessie grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like a swear word, "Can we just look for shelter and not at James' underwear?!"

James' face began turning at least three shades of red and looked down at his pants which were now beginning to look see through and caught sight of a tiny Moltres beginning to appear under his pants. He gasped once again.  
"MEOWTH!" he shrieked, trying to to pull on his pants leg, "Why did you have to even mention that?" After a brief moment of trying to continue to cover up that embarrassing peeking Moltres, he realized that it was positively no use, and that Jessie was right- they needed to find shelter immediately, especially if he wanted for Jessie not to see him in his boxers; having his _female_ best friend see even the outline of his boxers was embarrassing enough.

Jessie's face was also red, mainly because she had seen James in essentially his underwear and no matter the color, white clothes have a tendency to... _cling_. Though admittedly in their chosen line of work, modesty was a privilege they had none of. She was also blushing because James seeing her in pretty much her underwear was a nightmare. Well, having anyone she didn't want to see her like this was awful.  
"We could look for a cabin?" She said, trying to avert her eyes from her partner, "There's supposed to be a bunch nearby but since it's not winter yet not many people use them."  
Meowth grinned, "Anyting would do at dis point cause I'm not really likin' my view." He said, glancing back and forth at his partners who were refusing to look at each other.

James looked down at his feet and simply nodded, his face still red from the awkward situation he and his partner were both in. Still staring at the rain bouncing off of the toe boxes of his black boots, he replied: "Sounds like a good idea, Jess. Anything to get out of this rain!"

"Of course it's a good idea," Jessie said, "I'm full of them." she started walking ahead of her two partners.  
"Dat ain't what she's full of," Meowth muttered, walking alongside James.

James looked at Meowth and scowled a little, "Meowth, that wasn't very nice of you to say. Jess does have some good ideas every once in a great while." he said, scolding the normal-type Pokemon, however, in a few milliseconds, his mood had changed, as he let out a quiet snicker, and added, "But I do have to admit, like you said, good ideas aren't the only thing Jessie's full of."  
Meowth grinned, "Yea, but ya gotta admit you're a bit-"  
"What are you two talking about?" Jessie called over her shoulder.  
Meowth grinned at James, his victim, perfectly aware he was throwing him under a red haired bus, "James has somet'ing he'd like ta tell ya!"

James immediately stopped laughing. All of the color that was once in his face had completely drained, making it look like he had just seen a ghost. He certainly didn't want to tell Jessie what he had been joking round about, especially since it was Meowth that had started that nasty gag in the first place. It was Meowth that deserved to suffer the wrath of Jessie- not him. He needed to find a way to cover his butt and place the blame in Meowth's paws.  
"What?" He asked, voice decidedly higher, speeding up his words, and avoiding making eye contact with his partner, "I don't have anything I wanted to tell you. I never said anything. Nope. Not a thing. Why did you think I had something I wanted to tell you- that's ridiculous. I tell you everything, Jessie. I promised you from the day I met you that I was going to be nothing but honest with you and to never ever ever keep secrets from you, as that would be a threat to our- MEOWTH SAID YOU'RE FULL OF CRAP AND THAT YOU MAKE BOGUS PLANS!"  
Realizing the gravity of what he had said, he immediately cover his mouth with his hands, and his tiny pupils began to look into those of a rather irritated Jessie, fearfully awaiting for her reaction.

Shrinking like a wilted flower, he squeaked and then said in an obviously fake, hammy voice, "Have I told you how beautiful you look lately?"

Unfortunately this only earned him a death glare, as Meowth's jaw dropped and he went slack, "Well… ya see Jess-"  
"Okay." Jessie nodded a bit, interrupting, then calmly said, "I'd like to murder you Meowth, but I can't run after you right now because running would get more rain on me. So how about we agree that I'll throttle you once we find shelter? And James, dear, thank you for your honesty, but next time you two joke about me _literally_ behind my back, I can promise you that your life will end as swiftly as this rain started pouring."  
She turned around to glower at both, "Are. We. Clear?"

Both James and Meowth silently nodded, staring at the enraged redhead.  
"Yes." James squeaked, "Crystal clear."  
Meowth swallowed, "I have learned my lesson."  
Jessie nodded and turned back around, "Fantastic. Speaking of lessons, James, a quick lesson in thin boxers; They tend to stick closely to... _skin_ when wet. Nice Moltres boxers, though." she said.

James blushed and looked off into space. "Ha ha, real funny, Jessie. I'm well aware that I'm wearing Moltres boxers. I can't help the fact that I still feel as if I'm a Moltres-type personality!" he quickly responded, sarcastically. Then he remembered the part about sticking and immediately attempted to, as discreetly as possible, get his pants to be looser. After doing so, he glared at Meowth and made it clear he didn't appreciate that he'd been thrown under a bus.

Meowth's eyes widened, and he rushed to explain himself, "Okay but she was da one who brought up your pants an...HEY do youse guys see dat cabin?!" he pointed in the distance, where there was a small cabin that looked a bit run down and abandoned.

Oh thank heaven! It's about time we found shelter!" James said, smiling a little and letting out a somewhat premature sigh of relief.  
He began to speed walk over to the cabin off in the distance, and as the door became closer and closer, his walk soon morphed into a run, traveling swiftly between the raindrops to escape the storm.

"James, wait!" Jessie said, racing after him until they were both at the door.  
Meowth sighed, "Looks a bit...run down." Clearly, no one had been there for quite a while. Yet it still looked... livable. And from what they could see through the glass portion of the door, it still had some basic appliances.  
Jessie shot him a glance, "Well beggars can't be choosers, so unlock the door."  
With the order, Meowth picked the door lock in the way James had taught him to.  
"Finally." Jessie sighed.

James turned the door knob, walked into the ramshackle cabin and turned on the lights. As soon as his fellow teammates followed him inside, they began to look around their temporary home. The cabin appeared to be comprised of two small rooms and a larger one- a living room contained in the largest with a pull out sofa and a convertible armchair, and an old rabbit-ear TV which didn't appear to work, a small bathroom. There was also a little kitchenette in the back of the living room space with a refrigerator, a stove, and a microwave, and another small room which had one queen sized bed with demure gray sheets. It looked as though it'd been years since someone last came here. The lighting wasn't particularly flattering, the furniture was covered in dusty white sheets, and the cabin would creak if the wind blew too hard, but, like Jessie had said before: "beggars can't be choosers", and James was just thankful that they had finally found a place where they could spend the night and dry off.  
"Well, I guess this is our new base!" Jessie said, trying to be enthusiastic, even though she looked a bit bummed. "We have to let our clothes dry out or else we could get hypothermia." she said.  
Meowth glanced at James, "So wait… you two hafta strip?"  
"I meant we could just sit by a heater but I guess that would work too." Jessie rolled her eyes at him. "I don't know about James but I for one am most definitely not walking around in my bra."  
She glanced at James, who shivered and said,"Especially not when it's this cold inside."

"This is nothing," she said sardonically, "It was much colder this time of year where I used to live."

James nodded. "But yeah, I like the heater plan too." and then Jessie walked off to go find the heater, he said to Meowth, "Having Jessie see me in nothing but my underwear is kind of uncomfortable. Plus, she already saw them once on complete accident, so I don't feel like I have to show them to her again." he said nervously.

"Now... let's see... where is the darn heater in this place..."  
Jessie had started looking around on her own, walking into a little nook in the main room. Meowth was searching with James.

Meowth let out a yowl when they both heard Jessie let out a piercing shriek from the other room. 


	2. Chapter 2: The Failure

_Hey guys! This will be quite a long fic, as it is actually a more detailed version (Slightly rewritten) of a roleplay with Deviantart's Kwaziicat, who you lovely will know as K9ofthetwostrings. It is with Emma's permission I post this under my account. It may get a little sappy or dramatic at some points but… we're teenage girls. What did you expect when you clicked on this if not Rocketshipping and drama? Anyway, it is for the most part, planned in advance outside of the universe so if you need an explanation or have questions, feel free to PM either of us! I hope you enjoy! PS there are some differences in the way Emma and I do Meowth's accent and we both took him over at some point so I apologize in advance! (The cringey accent is me haha…)_

 _Also, if my old RP buddy from Quotev is reading this, yes- I did reuse Juliet as Juliette and the basic beginning is the same because I only know how to write two beginnings...! Sorry not sorry._

Chapter 2: The Failure

The second he heard his partner scream from the other side of the cabin, James felt his heart skip a beat or ten. He immediately stopped what he was doing and ran to the other side of the cabin to look for Jessie and see if she was okay.  
"JESSIE!" James yelled, "IS EVERYTHING OKAY?! I'M COMING!"

"No. Sudden. Movements." Jessie said, holding a hand out and pointing at a sleeping Pikachu. From the tail, it was a female. "I found a vermin." Jessie said.  
"How did it sleep through dat?" Meowth asked nobody in particular.  
Jessie glanced at him, "Must be a tired little rat." James noticed she had taken off her jacket and gloves and had put them on the little counter in the small kitchen.

James gasped in a combination of both horror and delight, standing behind Jessie, who turned around to notice the awed expression he had. "A PIKACHU?!" he remarked in sort of a half-scream and half-whisper, "How in the world did it even get in here?"  
"That is the least of our worries right now!" Jessie whisper-screamed. "We are WET and that thing controls electricity!" she pointed at it for emphasis.  
Then suddenly, the little yellow rat blinked it's eyes open and looked at both of them.  
"Uh oh." Meowth remarked flatly as Jessie grab-hugged James out of sheer fright and held on to him tightly.  
The little pikachu seemed pretty confused at the three.

The three let out a simultaneous scream of fright as the little pikachu walked up to them and… rather anticlimactically started rubbing itself on Meowth's legs, thankful for the warmth.  
"Pika!" It smiled and continued to rub itself on the frightened members of Team Rocket.  
Jessie loosened her grip on James a little, "Awww... It's a sweetie!" she said as it purred a bit, rubbing itself against her legs like a kitten.

James, still quivering in fear, managed to open one of his eyes and take a look at the scene that unfolded in front of him. He couldn't believe it! A Pikachu, finally being nice to them? Now that was a sight to see! He was perplexed. However, as he watched how Jessie stroked and baby-talked to the sweet little mouse Pokemon, James couldn't help but smile. He soon crouched down, and held out his hand for the Pikachu to sniff and rub against.

The pikachu smiled and gladly accepted the affection from both sources. "Pika pi!" it said happily  
"Awwwww she's so cute! The heart tail does mean she's female right?" Jessie squealed and asked James, "Should we try and catch her? She's adorable!" Jessie exclaimed without an answer letting it curl up against her, which elicited another excited squeal.  
The pikachu seemed ecstatic at the prospect of new owners. These people seemed alright to her. She wondered however, how they got in. "Pika pika pi?" She asked the Meowth how it was doing.

James chuckled and smiled. "If I remember correctly, the heart on the tail means that it's a female, so I believe you're right!" he replied, "And she is such a sweetheart isn't she? I honestly don't think capture will be necessary- she seems to want to be with us already! Don't you, you little sweetie pie?" He turned to the Pikachu and began stroking her soft, yellow fur.

Jessie sighed. If his treatment of previous Pokemon was anything to go by, this pikachu would be spoiled rotten by next week.

The Pikachu smiled and started climbing up James and sat on his head.  
Jessie grinned, and said in a runway announcer-esque voice, "And here we have James, wearing the latest fashion in hats."  
The Pikachu smiled and posed as if in a photo shoot atop James.  
"So cute!" Jessie gushed, then took out a poke-ball. She glanced at James, who seemed to be having fun with the Pikachu. She smiled softly and held out the ball for him, much to Meowth's surprise, "Would you like to do the honors, James?" she asked.

James smiled and chuckled, "I'll gladly do the honors, Jess!" he replied, taking the Poke-ball from his partner's hand. He then turned to the Pikachu and asked her, "Hey, how would you like to come with us?"

The pikachu did not even hesitate before jumping at the poke-ball and being sucked inside. Jessie hugged James with one arm, "We got a Pikachu!" she smiled, "Imagine the look on the twerp's face when we show up with our very own Pikachu! We should name her." Jessie said, "I am not going to call her the same thing as the twerpy Pikachu." She crossed her arms in a show of defiance.

James and Meowth cheered simultaneously, jumping in the air a little bit.  
"That's a great idea, Jessie!" James said, looking back at his partner, "What should we name her? Any ideas?" after Jessie opened her mouth to respond, he quickly added, "And we are not naming her after you so don't even." He said sternly. Jessie closed her mouth and crossed her arms again.

"Hmm...Juliette?" she asked, thinking, "Or Jane?" she asked, hands on her hips. "I dunno. Maybe Jade?" she shrugged.  
The pikachu popped out of her ball and sat atop James' head again, nuzzling him.

"Juliette's a nice name!" James replied, "What do you think, guys?"  
"I kinda like it, Jess!" Meowth said, smiling a little and crossing his arms over his chest, "whaddya think?" he asked the Pikachu.

The pikachu nodded enthusiastically.  
"Juliette it is then!" Jessie smiles. The pikachu leapt off James' head and onto Jessie, who lifted her off of her head and started to cradle her. "Does this place have anything to eat?" Jessie asked no one in particular, "I'm kinda hungry."

"I was wonderin' the same ting too..." Meowth said, patting his belly as it growled for food, "Let's sees whats dey got in da fridge..." He immediately walked over to the refrigerator and peeked inside. Nothing.  
"Are you kidding me?" Jessie asked with a groan, "Check the pantry."

"At least this place has power," James said optimistically.  
Juliette started to scurry over to the shelves, pointing out a coffee maker.  
"Oh great, we can have caffeine" Jessie said sarcastically, ignoring James. "Thank you Juliette but we need _food_ food."

"Hey guys! I tink we're in luck!" Meowth said, his face still inside of the pantry, "There's some canned stuff!"

Jessie grinned, "Yay!" and she started walking over there, spying a pack of noodles, "I see spaghetti. Who's up for spaghetti?" James' hand shot up and he smiled.  
Juliette smiled too, jumping off of the counter and landing on Jessie, "Pi-ka!"

"Okay well one of you get on that because I will literally burn the water." Jessie says, thrusting the small box of noodles into James' hands and walking past him to sit on a dusty bar-stool.

James looked at the box of noodles thrown into his hands and then back up at his partner. He smiled smugly and commented sardonically, "Good! I'm glad you're now recognizing that you can't cook and that you should probably stay out of the kitchen to save both your life and ours." She narrowed her eyes but they widened in surprise when he slowly put the box of noodles back in her hands and continued his original thought. "...BUT I'll teach you! You're going to cook with me tonight." He readied the stove for cooking.

Meowth made a face, "You're lettin her near a stove?" he sighed, "I didn't even get ta write my will..."

"It's good to learn how to cook at least _one_ thing, Meowth." James said.  
Jessie gave Meowth a small smack on the ear as she walked by and near the stove, "I know how to cook stuff." she said indignantly.

"Snow doesn't count." James told her as he pulled a small pot off of the rack above them, inspecting it and then putting it back.

She didn't respond for a moment but then upon seeing him use the sink to put water into a small pot said, "Oh, no, I _can't_ cook if it involves water." she put her hands up as a small gesture of surrender and went back to sit on the bar-stool.

James sighed and looked at his partner, "Jess, for the last time, you just boiled the water a little too long. And I promise, I'll be with you the whole time. Nothing will go wrong."  
Jessie nodded uneasily, "Okay fine, but if we burn this place down, I will blame you." She said seriously.  
"Pika pi!" Juliet scurried over and sat on Meowth's head, not wanting to be anyway near the kitchen.  
"Alright, alright. You have every right to blame me," James said, letting out a half-laugh as he searched the cabinets for more pots they could use.

Jessie helped him and found a small one,"Will this work?" She asked him over the clashing and clanging of numerous pots and pans.  
Juliet had curled up against the wall and begun to nap.  
"Guess she couldn't wait til after dinner." Jessie remarked to herself.

James put his thumb and pointer finger to his chin and began to make humming noises- visible sings that he was thinking, "I think we might need a bigger pot. We're there any more in the cabinets? If not, this one looks rather usable, but we might have to decrease the amount of noodles we put in it.  
"Oh." Jessie said, putting the pan on the small counter. "We could make two batches. One for us one for the Pokemon." she smiled a little, walking over to James.

"In that case, the pan you found would be perfect!" James remarked, smiling.

Jessie smirked, wondering how he managed to be so enthusiastic about something as small as stale spaghetti in a pan.

James' talking soon briefly interrupted her thoughts: "Do you know what we have to do first?" he asked her.

"Uhhhh," Jessie had no clue, "Not burn...the..water?" She asked, shrugging and waving her hands a little. "Or we put the thing...in the...bigger thing? I don't know!" she threw up her arms in exasperation.

"Well, you're right about not burning the water," James sighed, "but first, we clearly only have noodles out, and you kinda need more than that to make spaghetti, so, the first thing we do is make sure we have all the ingredients. Since, like I said, we only have noodles, we need some pasta sauce and maybe some grated cheese if there's some in the pantry... Um... Hey, Meowth? Juliette? Could you guys look for some marinara sauce and grated cheese in the pantry?" he asked.

Juliet hopped to it right away, looking through pantry to find cheese. "Pika pi!"  
Jessie nodded a bit, "Okay. And if we don't have those things?"  
"Well, if we don't have pasta sauce or cheese, then we'll have to make the best of it... plain noodles are still better than nothing at all!" James said, rather hopefully, "and quite frankly, they might be easier to learn to cook that way."

Juliet falls off the shelf with a crack and a crash following it, but triumphantly holds up a tomato with both hands. She looked rather dazed.  
Jessie smiles, "Thank you, Juliet. You okay?"  
Juliet hazily nods, "Pi..kah!"

James smiled and accepted the tomato from Juliet. He immediately began to inspect it to make sure it was still okay to use. After a brief second or two, he hummed a little and nodded, "Yep! This looks like it'll do the trick just fine! Thank you, Juliette!" He then proceeded to rub the little Pikachu on top of her head for a job well-done, and then turned to Jessie to continue his thoughts, "Looks like we're making the sauce, Jess!"

Meowth looked decidedly less ecstatic at the prospect.

"Okay, neat!" Jessie said, then her grin faltered a little, "How do you sauce." She looked at him, now infinitely more confused.

James smiled, sighed and then proceeded to answer his partner's weirdly-worded question: "Well, once again, it all depends on what we have. Looks like we have a blender, some water, and sugar, so we're going to do that with what we've got! So, first thing is first- we must chop up the tomato." He then proceeded to take out a cutting board out of the drawer and placed it on the counter in front of him. He then went to the drawer where the knives were kept and started chopping. Meowth was just thankful he wasn't letting Jessie, Queen of cooking disasters, handle the knife. Jessie did however, end up mixing the chopped tomato with the sugar and water...using a thinner bread knife as the whisk.

She smiled a little when she was done, carefully putting the knife down and then beamed widely, "I did it! I did it and I didn't stab anybody." she said like it was a real concern. As far as she cared, it was.

Jessie's smile widened, "And I didn't burn it!"

James smiled nervously, "Well, that's always a good thing." She looked so proud of herself, and he smiled at her, but then her eyes widened a little in realization, "James, how is my hair?" He froze. The rain had messed it up a bit, and since it was wet, large strands were hanging limply down her back, with most of it having fallen down.

James looked like a Deerling in the headlights as he examined his options. Telling that her hair had gotten a little on the wonky side from standing out in the pouring rain for an hour and a half required a death wish, but not telling her could lead to her complaining about how "wrong" he was, as well as it was a blatant violation of the "never telling lies to one another" code they had established when they agreed to be partners. After a brief second more of staring at the tangled mess of magenta cascading down his partner's back and shoulders, he simply replied, as inconspicuously as possible, "It still looks a little wet."

Luckily, she was still happy about her cooking achievement and decided to cut him some slack. After all, he hadn't said it looked _bad_ , per say. She had noticed how suddenly on edge he was and realized he was this tense due to her question. Well, she thought, it is a pretty lose/lose question. She sighed inwardly and forced herself to relax a little, "Well that's just great.. I'll fix it next time I see a mirror.." She said calmly, "Thank you, human mirror." she smiled a little, also very forced.

Shocked by her seemingly calm reaction, James let out a silent laugh as a small, awkward smile spread across his face. "N-No problem, Jess." he replied, as he let out a small sigh and breathed a deep breath in, before returning to the original subject at hand: "Um, Jess- we still have the rest of the dinner we need to make."  
She laughed a bit at his goofy little smile, "Right," She said, tying her hair back into a long ponytail, using a strand as a rubber band, "Okay, so next we have to torch the pasta, right?"  
"Wait, torch it? No! That's not how you cook pasta!" James shrieked, waving his hands in frantic circles and shaking his head back and forth. He then took another deep breath and walked over to the box containing the noodles and gave Jessie the following instructions, "First, you take the noodles out of the box and put them in the pot. Then, fill the pot with water and place it on the stove to boil. The boiling water will cook the noodles, so therefore, no torching is required. Besides, I don't think I would trust you with an actual fire..." he shuddered at the thought.  
"Sorry." Jessie mumbled, "Okay what do we preheat the oven to?" she asked, looking at him.  
Her question sunk in.

"You don't preheat the oven to make spaghetti, Jessie..." James replied, sighing, "You just set the pan on one of the burners on the stove top, and turn the dial to "high". But first, you put the noodles and water into the pot."  
"Already did," she said, showing him the pot, "Dumping noodles into a pot is easy." She said as she put them on the stove.

"Good!" James said, "Now, just turn the dial on high, and let the noodles boil."

Jessie did just that, "So James, you're the master chef here, how am I doing for my first time?" she leaned against the counter and looked at him eagerly.

...Just as the fire alarms started going off. 


	3. Chapter 3: The Nightmare

_Hey guys! This will be quite a long fic, as it is actually a more detailed version (Slightly rewritten) of a roleplay with Deviantart's Kwaziicat, who you lovely will know as K9ofthetwostrings. It is with Emma's permission I post this under my account. It may get a little sappy or dramatic at some points but… we're teenage girls. What did you expect when you clicked on this if not Rocketshipping and drama? Anyway, it is for the most part, planned in advance outside of the universe so if you need an explanation or have questions, feel free to PM either of us! I hope you enjoy! PS This is the chapter where the sappiness kinda takes over but I swear my writing gets so much better in the chapters ahead._

 _Reviews greatly appreciated!Even if they are more like comments like "OTP, so cute!" it's still better than nothing._

Chapter 3: The Nightmare

"Wait, why is the fire alarm going off we're..." James asked nonchalantly, turning around to take a look at the pot on the stove top, which was currently glowing orange and spitting out flames. He turned around frantically to Meowth and Juliette, who were both staring at the flames in fear and awe. "Um... Fire extinguisher. Fire extinguisher, NOW!" He commanded them.

Juliet and Meowth scurried off, quickly returning with a small fire extinguisher and Meowth used it on the fire. Thankfully, they still had about half a pot of noodles, though that would mean everyone would get about half of a portion.

Meowth groaned, "Every time..."  
"And this," Jessie said upsetedly at hearing the comment, turning to face the others, "is why I'm not allowed to cook." She scoffed at herself, "Thanks for trying to teach me but I'm just not good at it. So, you know what, I'm going to bed." She pivoted on her heel and began walking towards the bedroom, raising her hands in surrender.

"Wait, without dinner?" James asked in a mildly concerned tone, "You haven't eaten much all day, and luckily, half of the pot of noodles is still okay to eat." he said.

"It would have been fine if you had done it by yourself," Jessie argued, turning back, "You heard Meowth! Every time I try at this, I ruin it-"

"You didn't ruin everything," James protested, "In fact, you did a fantastic job making the noodles. Plus, you mixed the tomato well so that we could make the sauce."

"James," she said, starting to lose her calm, "Cooking is one of the few things I can't help but fail at. Right now? No different than when I burnt water."

"Jess, _you did not burn the water_." James grumbled, then said, "You didn't fail- stop beating yourself up over this! It was an accident that the stove caught fire!" he gestured to the stove, old and probably beaten up enough that it could have just been a malfunction.

Jessie frowned at him, "Thank you for your concern but I'm not hungry." She said in a mildly icy and clearly annoyed tone, "Goodnight." she whipped around and went to the bedroom.  
And that was that.

"Oh. Fine." James mumbled, "G-Good night, Jessie."  
As soon as he had watched Jessie walk to the other room where the beds were kept, James let out a sigh and turned his back to her, walking slowly over to Meowth and Juliette, who were still holding the fire extinguisher and looking back at the pot fearfully, awaiting for another fire to magically start.  
"It doesn't seem fair that Jessie didn't eat tonight, so, I don't think we should eat either. I mean, I don't want the noodles to go to waste and everything, but I feel like I cheated Jessie out of dinner tonight, so, it would be fair to go to bed hungry as well..." James sulked, looking at the two Pokemon at his feet. The two Pokemon nodded solemnly.

"Pika." Juliet started putting the noodles in the fridge and then settled onto the couch for sleep.  
Meanwhile, Jessie had taken off her socks and was now curled up on one side of the bed, trying to fall asleep. She was feeling actually a bit remorseful about burning dinner and ruining it for everyone. She hated failing.

Meanwhile, across the room and out of Jessie's line of sight, James paced around the living room, staring at his boots changing directions after every five or six steps. His face seemed to be visibly emotionless, however, on the inside, he was deeply troubled, fighting a silent battle with himself that he seemed to always be fighting after an argument with Jessie. He hated arguing with her, even though it was basically what they were best at. He didn't hate it because she mostly won (Though that was generally the case) but because he wondered why she was always so standoffish and he never knew why, but she had a lot of stuff pent up, and he had accepted that years ago. She generally directed her anger at him, and though he knew she often didn't mean to, he felt that some of the things wrong in her life were partially his fault. Case in point, back in Sinnoh, she would have left Team Rocket to be a Coordinator if he hadn't gone after that Metagross, and he wondered how far she would have gotten if she had stayed a Coordinator and not gone back to Team Rocket. At the moment, not wanting to eat dinner was the thing he was blaming himself for.  
"I should have been more kind to Jessie. I shouldn't have pushed her to do something she didn't want to do, and I should have taken a hint when she said that she didn't want to cook dinner," he thought to himself, still staring at his feet pacing across the wooden floor of the cabin.

Juliette got up from the couch and grabbed hold of one of James' legs. She nuzzled him sympathetically, seeing his worried expression. Meowth was already asleep by the looks of it. "Pika.." Juliette looked up at James and smiled a little before going back to the small chair and falling asleep next to Meowth almost instantly.  
Meanwhile, even though she had intended to stay awake for a while, Jessie had already fallen asleep in the bedroom. After the brief encounter with Juliette, James immediately stopped pacing. He took a look at her and Meowth, sleeping peacefully on the couch, and sighed, "Oh well... There's no use worrying about this. Jessie's probably already asleep and waking her up will only make her angrier with me. " James thought, pulling a dusty white sheet off of the armchair, pulling out the couch and lying down on it, and covering himself with the sheet as a makeshift blanket. I'll probably just go ahead and apologize to her in the morning, if everything hasn't blown over yet." he then proceeded to doze off to sleep, still trying to quiet his mind.

…

Sometime in the middle of the night, Jessie had awoken, jolting up from fear, letting out a small shriek, and sat up, hunched over her knees. She was always alone when she had these dreams, which tonight, she unfortunately happened to be. Generally, she and James would share a bed if there was only one, and when they camped, their sleeping bags were always in close proximity to each other. Having someone near her when she slept helped calm her down if she did have a nightmare, and often it would stave them off entirely.

As it was, she was completely alone.

She looked distraught and she began rambling bits and pieces of sentences that weren't making any sense. All that could be gathered from her frenzied speech was her pleading with somebody to stop over and over. Her shoulders were shaking. She appeared almost like she was having a panic attack and she held her head in her hands. She was terrified and shaking and sobbing.

Upon hearing Jessie's disturbing cry from across the cabin, James immediately woke up and clutched onto the sheet as if he was holding on for dear life. His heart was racing fearfully, wondering what was going on. After a brief second of processing the noise which had awoke him from his slumber, he immediately knew what was going on. Just because she didn't tell him about the nightmares didn't mean he didn't know about them. "Jessie!" He exclaimed in a whispery yell, as he pushed the sheet out from above him, stood up, and ran across the cabin to his partner's bedside.

She continued to cry bitterly and she kept asking for whatever she was talking to to stop. She was still cradling herself but she paused for a _small_ moment when she heard James' voice and then immediately went back to sobbing. She still looked like she was panicking and she fearfully hugged her knees closer to her.  
James began to tremble as well. It was frightening and upsetting to see his partner like this. As he figured this was the one time he would intervene (even if Jessie's ego wouldn't let her accept the help), James put his hands on his partners shoulders gently but firmly, and tried to wake her up from her horrible dream. "Jessie!" he whispered frantically, "Jessie, look at me. It's going to be alright. Jessie, please listen to me-wake up!"

Jessie turned a little and was wide awake in an instant. She started to shake a little and threw her arms around James' neck, pushing the bland gray covers back and off the bed, and sobbing into his chest. "I couldn't make it s-stop..." She repeated. He wrapped his own arms around her waist.

"Jessie, thank goodness you're okay!" James said, reciprocating his partner's hug, "What happened? Did you have another nightmare?"

She gave him a quick look that clearly illustrated her contempt for him knowing about that.  
She mumbled "Mm'mn" in between cries, hugging him tighter, "Did I wake you?" she managed to work out. He didn't even respond before she had already started talking again, "Sorry." she said, briefly letting go of him to wipe her eyes with the palm of her hand. She was on her knees, holding herself to his chest. His presence was a great comfort to her. She was obviously terrified.

"No, no- I understand, I understand! It's okay!" James said in a soothing voice, trying to hold back tears of his own, she'd given him quite a scare, "Jessie, it's going to be alright. It was just a bad dream. It's not real."

She nodded against him though the sound she made sounded like she didn't buy it, and her arms moved to his waist. He was warm. She _despised_ those horrid nightmares. And, she thought to herself, there was only one surefire way to make sure she didn't have- "Can I stay with you tonight?" She asked suddenly, moving back a little and he saw her pleading expression, "Please? I won't take up much room I promise!" She looked like she was about to cry again.

James looked at her and smiled, "Of course, Jessie! I'll stay with you, I promise."  
Jessie smiled weakly and wrapped her arms around him again. "Thanks." She said quietly, hugging him. she pulled back suddenly, "Did I wake any of the Pokemon?" she asked him worriedly. Partially, she felt bad if she had woken anyone else. The other half just wanted to make sure Meowth wouldn't have the fodder to make fun of her, and she wanted Juliette to have the highest opinion of her as possible.

"I don't think so." James said, giving her a little smile,"Juliette flinched a little, but she was okay for the most part and Meowth sleeps like a log- we could set off a hundred air horns, crash symbols together like no tomorrow, and host a rock concert in the room and he'd still be asleep."

Jessie let out a laugh, "Don't forget the cannons and the fireworks." She smiled and hugged him tightly. "My bed or your...er, couch? You honestly slept on the couch?" she asked, feeling a little tinge of guilt. "You said _you'd_ stay with _me_. No take backs. So...Bed. " she said decisively.

James laughed a little as well, "I promised, didn't I? You know I never break those to you and Meowth. I'll stay with you tonight." he sat down next to her and pulled the covers back onto the bed.  
"Thank you." She said, scooting over and lying her head down. "But really," She looked into his eyes, "Thank you." She hadn't meant to let herself look so grateful, but she'd let some seep into her tone and gaze and didn't even realize. She set her hand on one of the pillows and smiled to herself.

James smiled and laced his fingers through hers, "You're so very welcome, Jessie. I couldn't... well... I couldn't just let you... you..." He began blushing, just seeing Jessie look at him in such a compassionate way made his heart flutter. He could barely finish his sentence.

Jessie could generally tell exactly how James felt by his expression alone, but this was a topic they'd danced around for months. She was not going to let herself look any more vulnerable than she already did. "I know." she said quietly and simply, "Thanks again." She sighed a bit, "You're much sweeter than who I had that dream about." She said matter-of-factly, and she gently kissed his cheek before laying back down and rolling onto her side away from him.  
James' face turned bright red and he began smiling like an idiot. He could hardly believe it- Jessie, of all people, had just kissed him! Just the thought of those glorious seconds before made him giddy. However, this unbridled joy did not last long, as he had remembered what she had said before the kiss: she had been dreaming about someone, and clearly, it was someone who had done her a great deal of emotional distress. His happy expression soon turned into confusion and sadness. "Um, Jessie... You said... You were dreaming... of someone..." He simply replied, looking at her with a troubled glint in his eye.  
She rolled over to face him, "Oh uh..." She said dumbly, desperately trying to find a way out of this, "It's nobody you would know, James." she flushed red. "I wish it wasn't anyone I would know, so it doesn't concern you." She said kind of shyly.  
"Oh. Okay then." James said, still a little bit concerned, "But if you ever need to talk about it, please come to me. We promised we'd tell each other everything, right? Anyways, I apologize for sticking my nose where it doesn't belong- that was rather rude of me."  
She looked at him a bit guiltily, "No, it's alright," she sighed, "An ex. I was having a nightmare about an ex." She said, moving to hold his hand. "And you're right. If I have a problem I promise you I'll tell you." she gave his hand a small squeeze.

James' face drooped a little bit, and that concerned sparkle returned to his emerald eyes. "Jessie, I'm so sorry..." was all he could manage to say- he was deeply distraught and disturbed.  
"Don't be," She looked at him earnestly, "There was absolutely nothing you could have done." she said resolutely, rolling onto her back and closing her eyes, really hoping this conversation was over.

James smiled a little bit, but by the look on his face anyone could still tell he was upset. "I just... I..." He tried to finish his sentence, however, no words could come out. He just simply took a deep breath in and exhaled, and after a few brief seconds of thinking about what it was they he was trying to convey, he knew it was time for him to tell Jessie something he'd been meaning to tell her for months- maybe even years: "Um... Jessie... C-can I be honest with you about something..."

"Okay." Jessie said slowly, opening her deep blue eyes and raising an eyebrow. Her interest was suddenly piqued.

"Well... Yeah..." he said, his cheeks turning slightly pinkish, "But what I guess I mean is that, I've been meaning to tell you something for quite some time now, and, I think now would be the appropriate time to tell you."

"Okay..." Jessie propped herself up on her elbow, running through a mental list of what he possibly had to say that he'd never told her before.

James looked away for a second and bit his lip. He took another deep breath, and looked directly into his partner's eyes. "Jessie...I... Have I ever told you that I hate seeing you upset? Well, if I haven't, now I have. I hate seeing you upset and I can't stand it when you act like you being upset is a bad thing, I mean it probably isn't _good_ but you act like it's a disease or something- and I feel like it's my fault for most of the things that have happened to you." He got increasingly nervous and with semi-broken words he continued his original thought: "Jessie, I care about you… a lot… and I just want you to be happy." He admitted shyly.

Jessie was honestly more stunned than she had ever been in her life. "Wow…R-Really?" she asked, looking down at the sheets, "That's the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me." She whispered, still stunned. And without thinking, she asked something, "Does that mean you'd forgive me if I ever did something really stupid of me?" she looked at him hard. "I certainly hope so, because I'm about to be very stupid, so... sorry in advance." she said quickly, and then she kissed his lips quickly and pulled away, smiling.

He looked like he was in shock. 


	4. Chapter 4: The Toaster

_Hey guys! This will be quite a long fic, as it is actually a more detailed version (Slightly rewritten) of a roleplay with Deviantart's Kwaziicat, who you lovely will know as K9ofthetwostrings. It is with Emma's permission I post this under my account. It may get a little sappy or dramatic at some points but… we're teenage girls. What did you expect when you clicked on this if not Rocketshipping and drama? Anyway, it is for the most part, planned in advance outside of the universe so if you need an explanation or have questions, feel free to PM either of us! I hope you enjoy! PS This is the chapter where the sappiness kinda takes over but I swear my writing gets so much better in the chapters ahead._

 _Also, Emma, I'm putting of the...you know, THAT chapter for a bit, I want to take a breath from the major plot points and I think some new content/filler would be cute. So I think I'll do Halloween first since it's coming up soon. I have upset the natural order but oh well. I almost skipped our legendary toaster scene but decided to put it back in. "Sexy Bagel Toaster" must always be our top priority._

 _Reviews greatly appreciated!_

Chapter 4: The Toaster

James looked at his partner whose lips that had touched his mere moments ago wore a small smile, and began blushing harder than he had ever before in his entire life. His head began to spin, and his thoughts began to race, and his heart began to beat as if it was running a marathon all by itself. However, despite all that he was feeling, he had never felt more relaxed, relieved, and happy in all of his life. By the looks of it, his dream had finally come true.

She parted her lips from his, "Sorry if that wasn't appropriate." she muttered.

James responded hastily, "If I'm being honest, that has been on my bucket list for about...several... years." he said nervously.

Jessie smiled at him and said reassuringly, "Nothing that goes wrong in my life is your fault James because as far as I am concerned, you are one of the very few things in my life that's gone right."

James grinned from ear to ear, "I'm glad you think that, because you were the first thing to go right in my life."

"You know I care about you too, right?" she asked him.

James smiled even though he was surprised she'd say anything like that to him, she never was one for laying her cards on the table and letting everyone see them, "I... love you too..." he stammered, saying it more like a surprised question.. "Thanks?"  
"Sorry," he stuttered, "I'm, uh, not used to people, especially you, being affectionate." He smiled awkwardly.

She let out a laugh, "Yeah, we certainly have that in common, don't we?" Even though her demeanor was light and carefree, there was something cryptic about her tone. James didn't have much time to think on it though because her smile went from sweet to mischievous in a matter of milliseconds, Jessie smiled a little, "Shall we use this newfound affection to our advantage? We can freak the cat scat out of Meowth tomorrow morning." her smile became wider.  
Then a crash was heard at the foot of the bed and the duo looked down to see a nervous Juliette who was currently lying on her back and grinning, "Pikaa..." She kept smiling.  
Looks like someone had been spying.

"Oh, it's Juliette!" James said, reaching over to scratch the little Pikachu on the top of her head, "How long has she been sitting here?"

"Pikaaaa." Juliette continued to grin, then pointed at both of them and put her fingers together and tried her best to make a heart shape, even though it looked more like a triangle.  
Jessie smirked, turning to James, "Long enough apparantly." she said a bit sardonically, picking up the Pikachu and setting her in her lap. Jessie began to scratch Juliette behind the ears.

James laughed and pet the Pikachu on her back as Jessie pet her behind her ears. "Apparently! Looks like Juliette approves!" he smiled.

"Good." Jessie smiled, leaning against him. "James." she said suddenly, "I hope you realize there are going to be two people who don't." she looked at him hard.

"What do you mean, Jessie?" James asked. Then, after a moment of thinking, James realized what she had meant: "Oh... Yeah... Right..." Just thinking about his parents left a bad taste in his mouth, but as he thought back on it, he looked down a little bit and allowed his smile to spread, "Plus, hey, they never really have to know, anyway. We're on our own now and those who hurt us in the past can't hurt us anymore. Remember what you told me when I had that incident with my parents and my ex-fiance when we were in the Meowth Balloon alone together- 'we have our freedom.'" he quoted, "So…Whatever." he said simply.

Jessie's expression became contemplative, "Yeah, but I'm sure that if I ran into anyone from my past I wouldn't be as calm as that." she said, thinking, "Angry isn't the right word, no..more like murderous." she said calmly, facing him with a neutral expression.

James jumped slightly. "Oh boy, now I really know not to cross you, huh?" he remarked, laughing a little bit.

Her expression became pained and she broke her eye contact with him, blue eyes locking on the quilts, "Trust me when I tell you that if I even _thought_ you'd do what any of them did, I wouldn't even be speaking to you right now." she picked at the blanket.

James frowned. "I-I'm sorry, Jessie..." he replied, nervously, "Did I say something wrong? I didn't mean to hurt you- I hate seeing you hurt."

"What?" her head shot up, "No, no, James you didn't do anything wrong." she said, a little tinge of annoyance creeping into her voice, then she sighed, "That was my bad. Really, I don't think you could hurt me if you tried." She said, laying back down.

James searched for something he could respond with but ultimately decided to just change the subject, "New topic… was kissing me on your bucket list too?"

Jessie's face heated up, "Actually, James," she said suddenly, "I'm kinda tired." she fake yawned and started sinking back into bed.

James tried to summon up an angry face, "No fair-"

Jessie held up her hand and made a "Hold please" gesture and yawned again, closing her eyes.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow then." James smiled smugly.

Jessie said in a very faux tired voice, "Actually I think I'm going to sleep in."

James opened his mouth but Jessie said slightly loudly, "Nope, I'm going to sleep."

James sighed, "But Jessie-"

"Too tired."

"Jessie-"

"Sleepy."

James sighed and lied down, " _Fine_...you win." he laughed, putting his hands behind his head and then shut his eyes.

After a minute, Jessie spoke up again though James couldn't see her face. "I wouldn't say it was on my bucket list but I guess I did want it to happen. _Preferably_ before I died." she added.

James made a face, "Well we probably weren't going to kiss _after_..." he chuckled.

Jessie smiled, "Of course." she said evenly, before moving so that her head was on his chest and her arm was wrapped around his waist.

He looked at her with a confused expression and almost as though she read his mind, she said, "Yes, I'm hugging you…But if you touch my hair I will consider that a crime punishable by death." she smiled, relaxing on him.

James snickered, "Believe me, I wasn't planning on it."

She smiled up at him, grabbing his arm gently and setting his hand on her waist. She smiled. "You're warm. You're like...an external toaster."  
"A toaster, eh?" James asked sarcastically, still laughing and smiling, "How romantic."  
"One of the good toasters. The kind the lets you pick between bagel settings and toast settings. You're my awesome bagel toaster." Jessie laughed in spite of herself. "I like bagels." she sighed sleepily.  
Juliet had fallen asleep at their feet and was snoring softly.  
Jessie closed her eyes and smiled. "Mind if I fall asleep?"

"Ooookay, yeah, you clearly need some sleep if you're comparing my awesomeness to the awesomeness of a bagel toaster. Plus, if I was going to be a bagel toaster, you should use a better adjective. Why can't I be an epic bagel toaster? " He asked her entirely seriously.

Jessie replied sleepily, "Fine… then you can be a sexy bagel toaster."

James laughed, "Wooow. Thanks. You somehow made it worse….Sleep sounds like a good idea anyways- it's probably about two or three in the morning or so." He closed his eyes and yawned a little bit, "Good night, Jess."

Jessie murmured something about bagels before she fell asleep on his chest, with her head a little under his neck. Her grip around his waist loosened a little and her breathing steadied.

James looked as his sleepy partner and smiled. He loved the way this felt. All of his life, he was starved for most kinds of love, and it was so refreshing, relieving, and beautiful that he had now found it- and with his best friend, nonetheless. After a few seconds, his thoughts began to be drowned out by his desire for sleep, and he closed his eyes- the sound of Jessie's relaxed breathing as his lullaby. 


	5. Chapter 5: The Explanation

_Hey guys! This will be quite a long fic, as it is actually a more detailed version (Slightly rewritten and added to) of a roleplay with Deviantart's Kwaziicat, who you lovely will know as K9ofthetwostrings. It is with Emma's permission I post this under my account. It may get a little sappy or dramatic at some points but… we're teenage girls. What did you expect when you clicked on this if not Rocketshipping and drama? Anyway, it is for the most part, planned in advance outside of the universe so if you need an explanation or have questions, feel free to PM either of us! I hope you enjoy!_

 _Looks like I can't put off that chapter much longer, Emma… We didn't make enough filler! Halloween will have to come later… But I fluffed up the scenes leading up to… You Know Who… and I think I made it good enough to qualify as a major event._

 _I think I'm going to totally rewrite the entirety of Part 2 of the roleplay…_

 _If some casual jokes about… doing the do... offend you, I advise you to skip this chapter! No vulgar words used, just some jokes cracked by Meowth about the newfound relationship!_

 **This** _is the main reason why I marked this as teen, don't want little kids learning about the joys of "That's what she said."_

Chapter 5: The Explanation

James blinked his eyes open and smiled. His partner was still asleep and he didn't want to wake her, but he was really hungry. He gently slipped his arm out from under Jessie's body and got off the bed. All of their clothes were in the balloon...which was maybe a mile away.  
Sighing, he put her boots on but left his gloves and jacket on the counter for now and decided he was going to raid the pantry and fridge for anything to eat that did not require cooking. Jessie still felt awful about burning dinner, and hence was a little wary of the stove. James did not think using what was obviously a defective stove was a good idea.  
He looked over at a sleeping Meowth and smirked. Every time she saw him asleep she got the urge to say "Mmm Mondays.."  
Meowth stirred in his sleep a little. He let out a colossal snore and mumbled something about Mondays, as if he heard James' original comment faintly and agreed with it unconsciously. He re-positioned himself to sleep on his with his tail facing James. He soon then let out another snore, and rolled over once more off of the couch, hitting his head on the hardwood floor beneath him, bringing half the white sheet down with him.  
"MEEEEEEEOUCH!" he yelled, rubbing the top of his head while his eyes were still fluttering, "Oh, me head... Now I know how my day's gonna go..." he grumbled.

James was standing in the kitchen, not even attempting to cover his laughter, "Can't catch a break." he said under his breath as he pulled out some cereal from the pantry shelf and grabbed a handful. He was smiling, thinking about Jessie. Looking back on it, he was a bit embarrassed that he had done such a spurious thing, though he didn't regret anything. He wondered how they'd tell Meowth.

Meowth remained seated on the floor for another second, rubbing the top of his head and grumbling something about potentially having a concussion in between unintelligible nonsense. As soon as the pain became much less intense, he slowly picked himself up, yawned, stretched, and walked over to where James was leaning on the dusty marble counter.  
"Good mornin' to you too, Jimmy..." Meowth mumbled, in a rude manner which made James believe that he was still concerned about his head, he was mad James had laughed, or that he was still off in dreamland, "How're ya doin' dis fine mornin'?"

"Very, very well." he beamed and his eyes lit up before he turned to face Meowth, who showed a bit of confusion as to why he seemed so happy, but before he could even open his mouth to ask, James continued, "I saw your accident. You alright?" he asked, still smiling in spite of himself.  
Juliette woke up and looked at the still asleep Jessie for a minute. James wasn't there so Juliette figured it was wake up time and she jumped on top of Jessie and nuzzled her face sweetly to wake her. "Pika.." "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just peachy!" Meowth mumbled, "I only feel dis constant excruciating throbbin' pain at da back of my head dat hasn't gone away since I got spooked and hit da floor, thank you very much..."  
In the midst of Meowth's griping, Jessie walked across the room with little Juliette in his arms, yawning loudly.  
"Good morning, everyone!" she said in a warm, chipper voice. She yawned and then proceeded to walk over to James and hugged him with one arm while the other held Juliette, "And a good morning to you, James, dear." Jessie said sleepily. James blushed furiously and froze when Jessie kissed his cheek and sat down on a bar-stool.  
Meowth immediately stopped his complaining and turned to look at his two partners. Dear? _Dear_? His eyes grew to become as big as saucers and his mouth hung open. All he did was babble unintelligible nonsense. They had come out of the same bedroom… The implication was clear to the cat Pokemon.

Meowth looked ready to vomit.  
Jessie looked back at the shocked Pokemon and realized the gravity of what she had just done. She looked over to James, and with a nervous grin, she asked, "You didn't tell Meowth yet, did you…?"

"I was getting to it..." James squinted at her and smirked. "Sorry Meowth. I was going to tell you gently." his smirk turned into a sly smile.

"TELL MEOWTH WHAT?" Meowth practically screeched, "That you two went at it like a couple of Buneary?!"

Jessie's head shot up, "What?!" she looked at James, "WHAT DID YOU TELL HIM?"

"Nothing!" James said, "I never even implied-"

"Then why'd he get that idea?!" she shrieked.

"Ask him!" James said exasperatedly.

"Did you say anything?" she asked.

"No! I was going to do it gently and then you came in and-"

"And what?" Jessie made a face like she was daring him.

"And…" James said slowly, "Looked… really… pretty?"

"Nice save."

Meowth made a face, "MEOWTH IS STILL HERE AN' STILL WONDERIN' WHAT HAPPENED!"

"You tell him!" James looked at Jessie.  
"James, why don't you since you were going to do it _oh so gently?_ " Jessie asked with sarcasm dripping from her voice.  
"Fine!' James said, then paused to think.  
After deciding James was taking too long, Meowth snapped, "So, did you go at it like Buneary or not?!"

Both humans snapped back, "NO!"

"Then what did Meowth just witness?!"

James sighed, running a hand through his hair, "So...Last night, Jessie had a bad dream and I came into her room to comfort her and we said some... things... and admitted our feelings, and now we're pretty much a couple…" he thought about his explanation, "Yeah."  
After James had concluded, Meowth proceeded to stare off into space, his eyes still as large as two moons and his moth slightly ajar. His two partners, Jessie and James, whom he had known for almost all of his life were now a couple?! It was a lot to process all at once. After a few seconds, he had decided his little mind couldn't take it anymore, and he fell backwards onto the floor, hitting his head again.  
Jessie and James screamed simultaneously and immediately rushed to their friend's aide, shouting at him and sharking him, and fanning him with their hands, trying to do everything they could to wake him up. But just when they thought they had to rush him to the nearest Pokemon Center, Meowth shot up like a cat cannonball, and began shouting various questions laced with a few choice words.

Jessie casually picked up Juliette, "It's not like this affects you, Meowth..."

James said a bit more sincerely, "I didn't really think you'd be this upset…sorry."

To which Meowth responded as sarcastically as possible, "Aw, gee, thanks for thinking about me while you two decided to go at-"

"Meowth, I swear to every Legendary in the book that if you imply we went at it like Buneary _one more time_ , I will _personally_ send you blasting off again." Jessie had a dangerous look in her eyes that showed she was not, unlike Meowth, kidding around.

Meowth tried to resist the urge but he imagine she wouldn't really get that mad, and so he quipped, "Oh, so like you two did last nigh-"

"That's it!" Jessie immediately put down Juliette and James had to wrap his arms around her waist and hold her back before she sent Meowth, who ran off into the next room while James desperately tried to calm down his lady love, into the stratosphere.

James was struggling to hold her back from the runaway cat, "Jessie, please just slow down and-"

And that's when Meowth could be heard from the next room saying, "Dat's what she said!" and Jessie broke free, chasing the feline around the cabin, with James in tow.

"Jessie, think about this-"

"I AM GOING TO TEAR HIM LIMB FROM LIMB-"

"Yea, and then youse are gonna scr-"

"GET BACK HERE YOU MANGY FURBALL!"

"Mangy?!"

"Jess can you please just sit dow-"

"LET GO OF ME~!"

"Dat's also what she said!"

"MEOWTH!"

…

That was the day Meowth almost got his tail ripped off.

It was also the day he learned to avoid "She said" jokes at all costs.


	6. Chapter 6: The Ghost

_Hey guys! This will be quite a long fic, as it is actually a more detailed version (Slightly rewritten and added to) of a roleplay with Deviantart's Kwaziicat, who you lovely will know as K9ofthetwostrings. It is with Emma's permission I post this under my account. It may get a little sappy or dramatic at some points but… we're teenage girls. What did you expect when you clicked on this if not Rocketshipping and drama? Anyway, it is for the most part, planned in advance outside of the universe so if you need an explanation or have questions, feel free to PM either of us! I hope you enjoy!_

 _Looks like I can't put off that chapter any longer…_

 _Okay, guys, THIS is the MAIN reason I marked this as Teen._

 _This was very poorly written the first time around, in my case. Emma did fine, but mine just seems cringy now that I look back on it. I really rewrote this, but the implications about Jessie's past are still clear and if you have a problem with reading some stuff on abuse that heavily implies worse has happened in the past, SKIP! A summary will be included in the next chapter! Please, I never want to hurt people's feelings. You can be sure I have no jokes on this topic, and I treat it with all the seriousness someone would treat these situations in real life._

 _Thank you. Reviews are appreciated._

Chapter 6: The Ghost

Ever since early the morning of the day Jessie and James had, er, _gently_ broken the news of their relationship upgrade to their companion cat, he had been acting a bit strange. James worried that Meowth might have sustained a concussion during his first few falls, Jessie insisted that he'd survived worse and he was only adjusting to his partners' new romance.

James was starting the argument anew for the third time in the past few hours, "Jess, he may have gotten brain damage-"

"James, I went to nurse school, he isn't acting like he has brain damage," Jessie sighed frustratedly, "Even if he did, the bruise he got was so minor I doubt it would have even impacted him."

"But Jess-"

"No." She snapped, "Unless you feel like getting arrested, we are _not_ going to the Poke-center!"

James recoiled, she had gotten so angry every time he even brought up the next town over; He mused, thinking she just hated the idea of someone recognizing them and turning them in. He wondered what their bounty was… Probably pushed back up since they helped take over Unova (albeit temporarily). He sighed. Jessie may have a point, even people in a town as sleepy as Lavender may have seen a stray wanted poster.

"You're not afraid of the ghosts, are you?" James asked.

"No!" she snapped, crossing her arms and sitting down on the couch. She kicked her feet up and rested them on the ottoman, "I don't like the residents!" she said.

"Why not?" James looked at her with confusion. Aside from those three Ghost-types who antagonized them, and of course the twerps, there was nobody in Lavender who Jessie had reason to hate so much.

"I..." Jessie paused, "I know somebody and don't want to talk to them."

"Well," James said offhandedly, "I think you're being a bit selfish."

"Excuse me?" Jessie raised an eyebrow.

James swallowed, "You don't want to run into one person you happen to not like and that's keeping you from seeking medical attention for one of your best friends."

Jessie scoffed, "Fine, then. You take him. I'll stay."

"But if he hurts himself more, I won't know what to do." James protested.

Jessie grimaced, "He doesn't even have an injury."

"He's been acting like he's drunk for almost two days, Jess!"

"FINE!" she threw up her arms in exasperated defeat, "Leave your jacket behind," she said icily, "Unless spending five years staring through cell bars sounds entertaining?"

…

Jessie led the group, walking briskly in front of her companion. James was carrying Meowth, who had begrudgingly agreed to get checked out by Nurse Joy. Jessie passed a sign and struggled to read it in the thick fog, then yelled to James, "A little under a quarter of a mile!" she said.

"Oh really?" James asked. His serious expression soon morphed into a smile: "Oh hooray! That's great news!" He then proceeded to look at Meowth and whispered: "Don't you worry your fuzzy little head, Meowth- Nurse Joy is gonna check you up and make you as good as new!"  
"Yaaay!" Meowth said drowsily, "I like fuzzy!"

Jessie giggled a bit before her face returned to a sad smile. "I hate this town." she muttered. "Okay well," She said, pointing to a large building, "That _is_ the center. James, if you can check Meowth in I'll be in the waiting room with Juliette..." she said somberly.

"Are you okay, Jess?" James asked her, a bit of worry in his tone.

Jessie nodded her head, "Let's just patch him up and be on our way." she said quietly, walking towards the center. She pushed open the door with her foot and held it open for James as he walked through. "Okay," she said, "You check him in and I will wait." She said, letting the door shut with a "bam" and plopped herself on a red sofa about a room away from the front desk.

James nodded and took Meowth to the front desk. He then walked over to the front desk and began talking with Nurse Joy regarding Meowth's current condition. She agreed to take Meowth in right away since there were no other clients, though his injuries didn't appear to be serious. She suggested that James follow her into the nearest examination room.

Jessie sat in the waiting room with Juliette and picked up a fashion magazine dated from 5 years before. She sighed. She missed jeggings. She and Juliette were alone except for a man sitting in the corner, checking her out, who Jessie paid no attention to and didn't even notice as she flipped the pages.  
The same man who had been checking her out before swaggered over to her from behind. "Hey, there." He said smoothly.  
Jessie rolled her eyes without looking up from her magazine, "May I help yoooo..." she trailed off as anger and fear set in.  
Jessie tore her red-hot gaze away from him and glared at her magazine, "Get away from me." She growled, flipping a page.  
"Aww come on," he said easily, grabbing her wrist as she flipped, "You're the same as you were last time."  
She stood and angrily wrenched her arm away from him with a now red face, "I said, get away from me!" she said, not able to mask the fear in her voice. Did he seriously think she would ever listen to him after what he did to her?  
"Oh, I'm just playing with you. How have you been? You look good." He glanced down her body. He smiled in a way that was meant to be charming but, knowing him, Jessie found it creepy.  
"I was doing just great until the sight of your face ruined it, Seth." She said indignantly, crossing her arms to hide the fact her hands were fists.  
He scowled, "Don't be like that, I said you looked nice, Jess, and you're being-"  
"DON'T call me that!" She shrieked, cutting him off, "You have NO right to call me that!" She slapped him.

She was furious. That was James' nickname for her. Meowth occasionally called her that, but anyone besides the two of them called her that in a mocking tone. The only person she liked to hear it from was James. It was sweet when she heard it from James. It was infuriating to hear it from Seth.  
She spun around to face away from him,."Now get away from m-"  
He grabbed her wrist again, this time harder, hard enough that it would almost certainly leave a bruise, and yanked her toward him. "Don't you dare ever do that again, skank!" He threatened her. Her face was very close to his.  
…

Juliette ran off from where Jessie was to James and was trying to get his attention, "CHU!"  
…

Jessie spat at him and tried to get out of his hold. They were behind a wall and so the front desk couldn't see them, but up there they could probably be heard if she were loud enough. She wasn't about to submit like that though. She tried to struggle.  
She figured too big a commotion would attract too much of attention. She tried to pry his hand off of her wrist.  
Meanwhile, Juliette had run over and was yanking on James' pantleg and frantically pointing to the small part of the building where Jessie was. "Chu! Chu!"

James turned around and looked at Juliette. She looked beyond frightened, "Juliette, what's going on? Is everything okay?"  
The little mouse Pokemon frantically pointed at the scene that was going on in the waiting room behind them. He followed her stubby, yellow paw-fingers to Jessie, who was trying to struggle away from the grip of a man who was, from what he could tell, yelling and cursing at her. His eyes widened and his blood ran cold. He needed to get out there, and fast. He temporarily forgot about Meowth and Nurse Joy and everything and everyone else; Making sure Jessie was okay was the only thing on his mind. Without hesitating, he ran over to the waiting room and over to Jessie.  
"Hey man, what are you doing!?" he said, practically shoving him away from Jessie and shocking him into removing his grip from Jessie's wrist.

Seth looked at James and pushed him with his free hand, "What I'm doing to this whore is none of your concern." he said smoothly. Jessie took one frightful glance at James and then back at Seth, "It perfectly is of his concern, he's my best friend. Now get OFFA ME!" she yelled, elbowing seth in the ribs.  
That was when he swung at her, hitting her pretty hard in her side. Like the wrist, hard enough it would leave a bruise. The way it hurt, though, she was surprised if it didn't leave an imprint. She yelped, a pitiful cry, from the pain and fought the tears coming to her eyes.

"JESSIE!" James yelled, trying to hold back tears. He immediately focused his gaze on Seth. Without thinking, he ran over to protect Jessie from Seth's next hit, which unfortunately got him punched him in the nose, making it bleed a bit. Jessie then tackled Seth and tried to pin him against the wall- with James yelling for Nurse Joy to give him some extra help or call Officer Jenny. He didn't care if they got arrested at that point, so long as the tool attacking his best friend got worse than an arrest.

Seth struggled against his grip and eventually relented long enough to cuss him out.  
Jessie pulled them both apart, amidst all the yelling and cussing, "BOTH OF YOU STOP!" She screamed loud enough that she was breathless when she finished, glaring at both of them with a fury.  
"YOU," she spun on Seth, "NEED TO LEAVE ME ALONE."  
She turned to James next, "AND YOU," she said, pointing at him, "THANK YOU, BUT NEXT TIME SOME DIPLOMACY MAY BE A BETTER OPTION!"

Yelling so loud made her throat feel raw, but she was beyond provoked at this point.

"I'm sorry Jess, but I couldn't exactly be civil while this... this... jerk beat you up!" James told her.

Seth smirked, "Aww but we used to do it all the time."

James glared at him, but refrained from hitting him due to the fear that Jessie would get caught up in it again."Anyone who hurts my friends has to go through me!" James turned pack to Jessie and said breathlessly, still squirming a little and observing Seth's every move. He calmed down a little after, but there was still a certain rage in his voice when he turned to Seth again, "I may be a gentleman, but I don't take kindly to people harming my partners."

Seth frowned, " _Partners_?" he raised an eyebrow and looked at Jessie, "If only I had known you were into threeso-"

Jessie slapped him so hard her hand left a red implant in his cheek and the sound reverberated throughout the room, echoing in otherwise dead silence.

After a moment of registering that, Seth gripped her arm again and the fighting began anew.  
Nurse Joy quickly ran into the room with Meowth, who was holding an ice pack to his head. "What's going on here?" She queried.

Seth looked menacingly, "This skank doesn't know when to throw in a towel and now her boy-toy is attacking me. Don't worry, Joy." he flashed a smile, "I'm taking care of it."  
Jessie spun on him again and when he gripped her hand so hard she heard a small crack, she had a knee jerk reaction. Literally. She kneed him in between the thighs, "Why you little-" he trailed off, hearing that his voice sounded like that of a four year old girl inhaling helium, and was interrupted by Jessie, "He assaulted me and my best friend was helping me!"  
Seth glared at her and grabbed her wrist again, "I SAID DON'T EVER HIT ME AGAI-" Juliet jumped on him and bit his arm. Seth shook her off and Juliet gave him and Jessie both a small shock, with both the former and the latter yelping in pain.  
"Ow!" Seth said, "Stupid rat!" he said, trying to stomp on the small Juliette with his sneakers.  
James quickly grabbed the mouse and backed away.

"Hey! Stop that! All of you! ESPECIALLY you!" Nurse Joy shouted, pointing at Seth, "Leave that Pikachu alone!"  
Just as things were to get ugly again, police sirens could be heard from outside the poke-center. Meowth flinched and put the ice pack back to his head in pain. Officer Jenny ran into the building, looking at the scene that was going on before her.  
"Oh, Officer Jenny! Thank goodness you arrived!" Nurse Joy said, greeting Jenny from a distance, "I don't know how much longer I could have handled this by myself!"

Jenny looked at her worriedly, "You said something about an assault, what happened to the three of them?" she pointed at Jessie, Seth and James, who, respectively, were either covered in bruises, blood was draining from their nose, or they looked ready to break something.  
Seth started to talk, but before he even said a word in his defense, Juliette shocked him.  
Jessie spoke first, "I ran into my ex, he attacked me, and me and my, uh...boyfriend attacked him back." she said, then added hastily, "But Seth was verbally and physically threatening me at the time so it was self defense."  
James nervously nodded, as did Joy, who was currently holding onto Meowth's paw not only to keep him steady, but to console herself.  
"The poor girl was just sitting on the sofa here and before I knew it, I heard yelling and cursing a-and I saw that someone was harassing her, and then her boyfriend- th-the one with the longish hair and green eyes- tackled the man who was harassing her, and they wound up getting into a fight, and then he almost hurt their poor Pikachu in this mess too!"  
Jenny grimaced, writing all this down on a pad of yellowed paper with messy blue lines, "I'll want to take all of you down to the station for an official report. Miss, would you like to press charges?" she asked Jessie.  
"L-like in a police station or like a c-court?" Jessie was suddenly nervous, "N..No. I think not." she said as she rubbed her wrist.  
"Alright, if you say so," Jenny sighed and wrote that down.  
Seth grinned, eying Jessie, "I really don't see what the big deal is about, I was just playing around."  
Jessie looked at her feet and inched a bit closer to James, "Oh, yeah, fun games..." she said sarcastically but somberly.  
James got a little closer to Jessie in a protective manner, to let her know that he was there by her side. Even through the cursory glance he gave her, she looked like she was about to cry. He then looked over at Seth and scowled, watching his movements and waiting for him to potentially yell at or attack Jessie, Officer Jenny, Juliette, or himself, and awaiting for Jenny to eventually arrest Seth, or at least escort him from the Pokemon Center.

Jenny frowned at the smug Seth, "Just because she doesn't want to press charges doesn't this won't be put on your record. You'll still have to wait a bit in the town jail while we clear you." she ripped out the piece of paper, "Get in the car, perp." She said to Seth, holding out handcuffs as a threat.  
Seth glared at Jessie before screaming another obscenity at her and followed Jenny reluctantly.  
As soon as he was gone, Jessie slipped from out of James' embrace and she crumpled onto the sofa and began sobbing bitterly.  
Juliette nestled against her sympathetically.

James began to feel an overwhelming sorrow build up in his heart, so much so, that his chest physically hurt, and his breathing was heavy. He took a seat on the couch with her and tentatively put his hand on her shoulder. This was clearly the wrong thing to do as the minute his fingers brushed her skin, Jessie flinched and started crying harder if such a thing were possible. He pulled his hand away quickly but she relaxed a little, telling herself he wasn't trying to harm her. She moved quickly, collapsing on him so that she was sobbing into his chest. Jessie didn't try to say anything, she just cried. After a few more minutes of weeping, she gasped in between breaths, "I want to go back to the c-cabin." She said, in a way James knew she meant that at least there her breakdown wasn't public. Stubborn girl hated crying in public.

"Okay..." James said, pulling Jessie into a tighter hug and kissing the top of her head, "Let's go, then." James looked up at Nurse Joy and smiled a thankful, but pained smile. "Thank you for everything, Nurse Joy."  
Joy nodded and briefly smiled back, not wanting to say anything more, in fear that she would only frighten Jessie. James then proceeded to get up from the couch, Jessie with her arms still wrapped around his chest. As they began walking home, they moved so that they were merely holding hands. They walked over to the door quietly and solemnly, Meowth and Juliette trailing behind them slowly. As they left the center, James waved a brief goodbye to Joy, and then continued with his partner on their way back to their cabin, regretting today more and more with every step he took.


	7. Chapter 7: The Holiday

_Hey guys! This will be quite a long fic, as it is actually a more detailed version (Slightly rewritten and added to) of a roleplay with Deviantart's Kwaziicat, who you lovely will know as K9ofthetwostrings. It is with Emma's permission I post this under my account. It may get a little sappy or dramatic at some points but… we're teenage girls. What did you expect when you clicked on this if not Rocketshipping and drama? Anyway, it is for the most part, planned in advance outside of the universe so if you need an explanation or have questions, feel free to PM either of us! I hope you enjoy!_

 _The last chapter can be iffy in terms of content acceptance, so here I'll put a little summary in case you heeded my warning and skipped the last chapter, which I'm marking as the most T rated thing so far._

 _Summary: After James convinces her to take Meowth to a Poke-center on the basis that he may have suffered a concussion, the infamous trio travels to the nearby Lavender Town, where the ghosts they encounter are a bit more metaphorical than a typical Haunter and Ghastly. Jessie comes face to face with Seth (Named after a boy in the 7th grade who harassed my friend and me for two months before anybody bothered to do anything, if you're reading this Seth, I wish Cam had kicked you in the groin when he had the chance!), a ghost from her past. After undergoing a less than friendly reunion, the trio leaves after Meowth is given a check up and returns to the cabin, just in time for Halloween season and the day Meowth considers his birthday!_

 _Also, Emma, I changed James' costume because we both know there is a large part of the fandom that gets salty about things like… that. But I'm turning it into a reference to a popular movie series I like so it should be fine._

 _Reviews are appreciated!_

Chapter 7: The Holiday

A few days after the horrifying encounter with Jessie's worse than awful ex-boyfriend, the trio was back to semi-normal, aside from the slowly disappearing bruises on Jessie's side and right arm, and the couple of nosebleeds James got caused by when Seth nearly broke it. And of course, James had hardly let Jessie out of his sight even though she insisted she was fine.

 _If this were a romance novel_ , Jessie mused the third day he acted like a mama bear, _the gorgeous female love interest would feel incredibly lucky to have such a caring boyfriend_.

"Jess, are you sure you don't need anything?" James asked for the fourth time that morning alone.

 _As it is, I just find it annoying._ "No, James, for the last time, I'm _fine."_

James frowned. He could tell Jessie was in at least some pain just by the way she winced and held her wrist, however, he didn't want to irritate her too much after what she had recently and unfortunately had to face, so instead of making a scene he simply replied: "Jess, um... I'm about to get up and fix some lunch or something, but if you want any ice for your wrist, please let me know."

 _I wonder if I can spin this around._ She looked up at him and smiled brightly, "Alright. Thank you." she said, standing up, "You really are great, you know. Nobody has ever tackled a person for me before." She smirked at him, blue eyes sparkling.

James smirked back and let out a dry chortle that sounded more like a sigh than a laugh: "Really? Wow. Didn't know I was your first."

And it was at that sentence Meowth walked into the room, "WHAT!?"

After a second, James' eyes became as big as Meowth's and his whole face began to turn beet red. "Woah..." he said with an embarrassed laugh, "Um... That sounded wrong... I-I probably should have finished my sentence... I meant that I was your first boyfriend or friend or partner or whatever the heck I am, to take a bullet like that for you. N-not literally, of course, because it was a fist fight and not a- Y-you know what, I don't even know what I'm trying to say right now. That wasn't probably the right phrase to use. Now that I think about it, neither of those phrases were the right ones to use... What do you want for lunch?" he laughed awkwardly.

Jessie put her hand to her face. _This is the person I'm in love with. What happened…?_ "Anything, James, I really don't care."

Meowth sighed and left the room, "Knuckleheads..."

James smiled, "Okay, in that case, don't complain when you decide I made the opposite of what you actually wanted..."

Jessie laughed, "Alright."

James smiled, "But as I was saying, if your wrist starts hurting or you feel bad or-"

"James, not this again..." Jessie groaned, "Unless you want me to get mad at how reckless you were-"

Meowth walked back in casually, sitting on the dusty arm chair.

James sighed, "I'm serious... Like I said a few nights ago when we were in bed together-"

"WHAT!?" Meowth piped up.

"Meowth, if you're going to join in listen to the _whole conversation_!" James chided, "As I was saying, I just want to keep you happy. I honestly felt that I was failing as your partner by letting you endure that, so, I jumped in. I know, I was a little reckless, and trust me, I don't want to ever have to do that again, but I kinda had to."

Jessie looked at him with a slightly tired expression, before saying,"Well...Thank you. Nobody has ever really been..there for me, you know? I still have to remind myself sometimes you're probably going to be a constant."

"I hate to admit this, but to be completely honest, sometimes, I have to do the same sometimes..." James said, taking a small sip of the tea he was making and set the cup down on the floor in front of him. He closed his eyes and took a big deep breath in order to release tension, "But really, you can talk to me-"

"I know, James, but that doesn't mean I suddenly have something to say!" Jessie interrupted. Then she massaged her wrist as she sighed, "As far as I know, you already are the one person who hasn't left me. I _know_ I can count on you…Okay well, Meowth too but… no I said person... Meowth doesn't count, he's a cat." she said.  
James snickered, "Yeah, guess you couldn't REALLY count Meowth."  
"I hoid that..." Meowth sneered from the other room.

"Nah," Jessie grinned, "I love you both. One of you as a partner and the other as a... well an independent and condescending pet."  
Meowth grumbled something under his breath while James let out a laugh, "Aww... well, I love both you you as well... Jessie especially though because, well... you know..." he winked at her and smiled.

"Well," Meowth smirked, "I really hope Meowth is not da one ya want ta-"

"Meowth…" Jessie warned.

"I was gonna say 'love'!" Meowth crossed his little arms, "Youse is da one who filled in da blanks with dat dirty mind o' yours."

"Shut up." Jessie scoffed.

James grinned at Meowth, "Are you okay, condescending pet?"

"Yeah..." Meowth moped, walking into the kitchenette with them and giving James a death glare that seemed like he was both serious and not at the same time, "Yeah, I'm okay. Jus'... Call me dat ever again and I shall consider ya both candidates for a Fury-Swipe-to-da-face..."  
Jessie smiled at him nervously, "Okay then. Please don't attack my face. That is going to be an integral part of my Halloween costume." she said then she suddenly broke into a smile, "I almost forgot, Halloween is in like, a week."

James' face lit up: "Yeah, I almost totally forgot myself! Couldn't imagine why- Halloween was probably my favorite holiday growing up! Well, that, and Christmas, but only if I spent it at Nanny and Pop-Pop's... But that's an entirely different story... Anyhow, I can't believe we forgot about Halloween, because, if I'm not mistaken, something else very special happens on the day after..." he turned his head to look at Meowth, who was still a little on the grouchy side due to Jessie referring to him as her "condescending pet".

Meowth looked up but he seemed confused.

Jessie smiled at both of them, "Meowth...Don't you remember what else happens after Halloween? Oh stop looking so grouchy, I'm sorry okay? Where's your Halloween spirit?"  
She glanced at James, "I already started making my costume. It'll knock your socks off!"

Meowth snapped out of his angry haze and turned around to look at Jessie. "No, I don't tink I rememba anyting else happenin' around Halloween otha then maybe..." he paused for a moment and a big Cheshire Cat-like smile spread across his face: "HEY! Dat's my Gotcha Day! Dat was da day when youse two formally decided dat you were gonna adopt me and make me a memba of your team!"  
James nodded: "Absolutely! And we're gonna make it the best Gotcha Day you've ever had!" James said, allowing or Meowth's infectious smile to spread across his own face, "And ooh! Jess, I can't wait to see what you're going to be this year! Your costumes are always to die for! Oh, I simply hope you'll love mine- I've been trying to perfect it for months!"

Jessie smiled; Halloween got them all excited like small children, "What are you going to be?" she asked.

"That, my dear Jessie," he said, "Is something you will only find out if you tell me yours."

"Well then..." Jessie said, "Guess I'll just wait for a week."

"No fair!"

Jessie smiled, "Can't wait to see it! Mine this year is a bit more... scandalous than last year but I think I more than compensated for that with craftsmanship!"  
"And Meowth as far as gotcha day goes, I promise it will be the best one yet!" she beamed at them. "So Meowth, how's your costume comin?"

"Oh, Jessie, I'm sure it's not as scandalous as you think! But regardless, you have wonderful taste and you make such beautiful dresses, I think you're going to look amazing!" James said, blushing a little, "And yeah, Meowth, how's your costume coming along?"  
"I'se actually started woikin' on it six months ago and finished last week! I wanted to make sure dat everyting was poifect and not a stitch was out of place! Not ta toot my own horn or anyting, but, I'm very proud of my handiwoik." Meowth said, examining his claws nonchalantly.

Jessie smiled at them both, "We should probably buy candy soon, I guarantee at least one kid is going to trick or treat here. Plus, candy is on sale and I like candy." she smirked, "I'll go steal-I mean, _buy_ \- the candy if you two can promise not to look at my costume!"

"Okay, would you like me to come with you while Meowth watches the cabin?" James asked, "Also, if you're thinking what I'm thinking, you might need an accomplice, but of course, you could always just _actually_ buy the candy if it's on sale." James let out a laugh.

Jessie laughs, "Okay, I will be a good citizen but just this once. As a debt to that nice nurse Joy and the one time Officer Jenny isn't a nightmare."  
"You boys stay here, I'll be back soon, mkay?" she got up and left for the store.

James chucked a little and waved goodbye as Jessie left the house. He then signed and took another sip of the tea that was still sitting on the floor in front of him. It had now gone cold, and didn't taste very appealing. That, and he was hungry for actual food and considered opening the can of ravioli that still sat on the kitchen counter next to the stove. "I'm gonna make some lunch, you want any?" James asked, putting the can to the electric can opener.

"Yes pleaze. I'm starvin." Meowth said, "So are youse excited fo' Jess' 'scandalous attire'? I already know what it is but, I mean, since youse guys are... _in love_ an all that..." He nudged James' leg with his elbow.

James put the can into the microwave and punched in a timer for about twenty seconds. He turned around and looked at Meowth as his cheeks turned faintly pink, "Well, _yes_ , but mostly because she makes the most beautiful costumes."

Meowth made a face, " _Yeah..._ "

James grimaced, "Regardless of how 'scandalous' her costume might be, I always get excited to see _whatever_ she makes _every_ year." The timer went off with the last word, as he turned around again, took a spoon out of the drawer and dished the ravioli in equal amounts into two plastic bowls.

Meowth nodded, giving James a suspicious look that clearly meant he did not buy what James was selling, "So Jimmy, what's youse's costume gonna be?" Meowth grabbed his bowl of ravioli, "Tanks for lunch."  
"No problem."said James, spooning some of the ravioli into his mouth, and while he was still chewing, turned to Meowth a continued his thought: "You really wanna know? Okay. But first... you have to tell me what you're going to be, and what Jessie is going to be."

Meowth grinned, "Okay Jimmy but it's your fault that the surprise'll be more spoiled den dis rotten ravioli. I'll tell youse my costume, then you tell me yours, then I'll tell youse Jessie's. I'm going to be -drumroll please- a mini gangsta. Now your turn!"  
James let out a squeal and clapped his hands together, "Oh, Meowth, that's going to be WAY too cute! For my costume, I've decided I'm going to be a spy! Oh my suit is so cooool- I can hardly wait to show you what it looks like! But enough about us... What's Jessie going to be? Tell me tell me tell me now!" his voice became increasingly excited, almost like that of an impatient child.

Meowth smirked, "You really shouldn't trust Meowth when I make deals like dis. I know what it is, but all I will say to youse Jimmy, is that it'll knock your socks off."

James raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean by that?" he asked, suspiciously. Meowth didn't respond, only smiled smugly. Over the next few minutes, his tone eventually turned into that of desperate excitement: "OH PLEASE, OH PLEASE, OH PLEASE, MEOWTH!" he begged, literally on his knees, "IF YOU KNOW, PLEASE, WHY DON'T YOU TELL ME!"

"She doesn't want eidda of us knowin so it's betta that its just me. But..." Meowth grinned at him evilly, "If you promise me something, I'll tell you. I want youse ta promise that eventually if you and Jess evah settle down, you will nevah evah get a dog Pokemon bigger den a Snubbell, but you cannot get a Snubbell. Poor Meowth can't take a Labradors worth of pain and dog droppings."

Without even thinking, James shouted: "DEAL!" as loud as he could, letting small bits of food fly from his mouth to the floor.  
"She's gonna be a -drumroll pleaze- cabaret singer. Like the skimpy kind ya see in da movi-"  
Just then they heard the front door lock click open and Meowth scrambled to get as far away from the crime scene as possible. 


	8. Canceling This Story

**Last Author's Note:**

Hey guys, Delaney here. I decided to finally scrap this story. I highly doubt any of you will care because it's not like this came from nowhere. I haven't updated it in over half a year and also haven't made any plans to update. The reason I thought this warranted a note is because it's also an update regarding Pokemon fics in general. Pokemon was my main fandom for about 2-3 years but I recently got very into RWBY, and got a new OTP out of it. I can tell that RWBY is now my main fandom, so I'm not going to keep up the pretense that I'll update this ever again. I highly doubt I'll update my other Rocketshipping story either, but I still have a few unpublished chapters for that so maybe I'll pull a conclusion out of my butt and I'll post that.

Anyway, thanks to those of you who enjoyed this, my first story. Seeya around!

-4/28/2019


End file.
